From Modal Particle to Interrogative Marker : A Study of German 'denn'
From Modal Particle to Interrogative Marker : A Study of German 'denn'
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从情态助词到疑问标记:德语“denn”的研究
DOI:
10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199746736.003.0001
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发表时间:
2012
影响因子:
5
通讯作者:
Josef Bayer
中科院分区:
文献类型:
--
作者:
Josef Bayer
The German particle denn (from Old High German temporal thanne, “then”, and related to Engl. then and German dann, “then”) is either a conjunctive or a so-called modal particle (MP), occasionally also called “discourse particle”. Only the latter use will be of interest here. Denn as an MP is in its core occurrences confined to root V1-questions and V2 wh-questions. Its occurrence in clauses of that type is optional. Its occurrence roughly signals that the speaker is concerned about the answer that his or her question will elicit. The Bavarian dialects which will be in the focus of the final part of this article do not employ the lexical element denn but rather the clitic form -n (which appears to be related to denn). This clitic element is interesting as it combines two remarkable properties that distinguish it from denn. Section 1 explains the discourse function of denn. Section 2, the central part, introduces the syntax of denn. Section 3 turns to the fate of denn in Bavarian. A conclusion is given in section 4.